Woodbridge and Irvine football opener could be a preview of exciting race

Woodbridge quarterback Kyle Hurry drops back to pass as Irvine’s Tyler Paulin comes charging in during the Pacific Coast League game.

If Friday’s Pacific Coast League football opener between Woodbridge and Irvine is any indication, it’s going to be an exciting season in the league, which for the first time in many years does not include Corona del Mar.

Woodbridge scored with 4:50 left on a 7-yard TD run by Nikos Reza to defeat Irvine 23-17 in front of about 3,200 fans at Irvine Stadium.

The teams would have played overtime in the event of a tie, which is the rule for all PCL games.

“Last year we had a barn-burner too, it’s just fun. Both schools get up for each other and it’s a good time,” said Woodbridge Coach Rick Gibson, who watched his team even its mark at 3-3. “I felt we had a complete game.”

Leading the way was quarterback Kyle Hurry, who had his best game passing for two touchdowns and 198 yards.

“I talked to him before the game and said, ‘have some fun out there. This is the last time you get to play Irvine,’ and he did,” GIbson said. “He’s a great kid.”

Woodbridge definitely came out firing. Besides using Hurry at quarterback, Elyjah Rush and Jacob Nash were used out of the wildcat formation and both were effective in disrupting the Irvine defense.

Nash had 59 yards rushing and Rush had 51 yards rushing. Both players had a TD as well.

Woodbridge hosts Northwood (5-1, 1-0) Friday night at University.

It was a tough loss for Irvine, which was led by quarterback Marc FIlia, who passed for 148 yards and two touchdowns in one of the Vaqueros’ best efforts of the year.

The Vaqueros (1-5, 0-1) hope to get even in league when they host Beckman Friday night at 7.

Irvine Coach Erik Terry remained upbeat after the game. The Vaqueros had been giving up a lot of points in the pre-season allowing 51 points a week before to defending CIF Division 13 champion Orange, which is ranked fourth in this week’s CIF Division 9 poll.

“This is one of our best defensive efforts we’ve had,” Terry said. “Again it goes back to evenly matched. We played some people who were bigger, stronger and faster than us on the line and tonight we played people we should be playing.”

Terry said he expects a battle from Beckman.

“I watched them last night against Portola and they’re putting some things together and clicking, but when I watch Beckman, I see another even match-up,” Terry said. “I see two teams who have very similar skill talents, and very similar lines in terms of size. It will be a tough one. We’ve got to get back on film and fix some things we need to fix.

“Our goal is, we want to keep our team together as long as possible. So this doesn’t set us back necessarily. It might hurt our chances of winning a league championship, but what I learned last year is you got to get second place (to reach the playoffs) so again, we want to play as long as we can. If we take care of business over the next four weeks, we will extend that season.”

WOODBRIDGE WINS PCL OPENER OVER IRVINE 23-17